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In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] ([email protected] +1-510-484-6204) wrote:
> My initial reaction to "Anonymous video conferencing" was
> "That's when you wear black ski masks and use voice scramblers
> and call from video payphones", i.e. not very useful.
> ("Subcomandata Marcos here...")
I thought so too, at first; but then I thought of this obvious application:
The scene is a bare room, with a single chair in the middle. Seated on the
chair is THE VICTIM, whose head covered in a hood. The victim's hands
are bound to the armrests, and the legs to those of the chair.
A KIDNAPPER enters the scene and walks over to the victim. The
kidnapper's face is obscured, either by a hood or ski mask, or by
digital scrambling of the image. The kidnapper's voice is scrambled
digitally. The kidnapper pulls the hood off of the victim's head, and
speaks.
KIDNAPPER: Okay, you're on! Talk!
The camera slowly zooms in on the victim's face.
VICTIM (tentatively): Mom? Dad? It's me.
DAD (voice over): Is that really you, son? Are you all right?
VICTIM: It's me. I'm okay. This is no picnic, but
they're treating me okay, considering. Listen,
have a message they want you to pass on to the
President.
DAD: I don't know if I can get it to him. It's not
like we play golf together.
VICTIM (nervously): You have to. You'll find away. Tell the President
that he has to pull the troops out of Belgrade.
If the U.S. forces aren't pulled completely out
by the end of this month, they say they're going
to cut me into pieces and send them to you piece
piece. . . .
etc.
Whether technology is going to be developed for the convenience of
kidnappers and terrorists is an open question. But there is clearly
at least this one clear use for anonymous video conferencing. There are
probably more.
| PROOF-READER, n: A malefactor who atones for
Alan Bostick | making your writing nonsense by permitting
[email protected] | the compositor to make it unintelligible.
finger for PGP public key | Ambrose Bierce, THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY
Key fingerprint: |
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